Results of a 2011 Search Institute survey have spurred the Athabasca Interact Club at Edwin Parr Composite to look for ways to better prepare students for life after high school.
Taking the information gathered by the survey, the club is developing programs in the school to encourage students to develop positive characteristics.
One hundred and twenty-six EPC students in Grades 8 and Grade 12 were administered the survey in November 2011, entitled, ìProfiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors.î Approximately 47 per cent of students in Grade 8 and Grade 12 at EPC reported needing more skills to ìface complex social forces,î according to the survey.
Of the Grade 12 students surveyed, 85 per cent reported that they receive support from their families, whereas only eight per cent reported having adult role models.
Statistics also showed that the average high school graduate has approximately 18 developmental assets upon graduation, out of a possible 40. On the higher end, 29 per cent of those polled reported having between 21 and 30 assets; six per cent said they possessed 31 to 40 assets.
Research shows that the higher the number, the less likely students are to engage in deviant behaviour, and the more likely they are to foster positive, constructive life skills.
ìWhat we know is the more developmental assets that a young person has, the less likely they are going to engage in risky behaviours,î said Paul Deveau of Alberta Health.
ìThe higher the number, the better.î
Interact president Kristopher Nelson, a Grade 11 student at EPC, said the developmental assets project ìmakes you more aware of the skills and traits that you have, so you can work on them and better yourself.î
Students were asked various questions that assessed various ìexternalî assets, which could include people and networks of external support, as well as ìinternal assets,î assessing development of studentsí ìinner guidance system.î
ìIn terms of building assets, that could be one area we could look at; building assets in youth and looking at ways in which we can develop some kind of program, or even look at what kinds of programs exist here in Athabasca to be able to look at getting that into the school and building on that,î said Deveau.
ìWe are helping start programs in the school that promote the development of these assets,î said Davis Weber, an Interact Club member.
Such programs could include a dodge ball program for multiple grades in February that will be held at the school, addressing youth programs and sports under the developmental assets study, according to Weber.
Dale Spencer, another Interact Club member, said the dodge ball tournament will be ìschool-wideî and encourage members of all grades to participate.
Other possible ideas in the works include renovations of the EPC bleachers, foyer area and possibly resurrecting the school magazine, said Spencer, although plans have not been finalized.
Spencer said the club has also discussed the possibility of conducting a survey to find out what students would want in a new school, in the wake of community discussions for a possible new school in the area.
ìThis (survey) is a really good segway, because what happens is these (Interact) kids already have a lot of those skills, and thatís why theyíre doing it, because they recognize that thereís a need in communities,î said Dennis MacNeil, an Athabasca Rotary Club member and retired educator.
ìThey want to be part of service, they want to be part of improving society, so itís natural for them to be concerned about developmental assets of other kids.î
Making reference to the concept of ìconscientizationî developed by Brazilian educator and theorist Paulo Freire, MacNeil said, ìThe more kids know about the positive things, the qualities and the skills that they have already, when you raise that to the level of consciousness, they can start building a conscience around it, saying, ëOK, now I have a responsibility to live up to these qualities that I know that I have.íî
ìWhen we look at the number of assets that kids can identify that they have, thereís a direct correlation between student achievement, positive behaviour, and having those assets. Thatís the bottom line.î
